Paedophile who abused boys at Carmel College has 19-year sentence halved

Court of Appeal has reduced Trevor Bolton's sentence to nine years, after he was sent to prison for crimes against students at the boarding school between 1968 and 1988

A predatory paedophile who sexually abused boys at a now-closed Jewish boarding school for 20 years has had his 19-year sentence halved.

Trevor Bolton, a housemaster who preyed on the homesick and the vulnerable at Carmel College, was found guilty of 25 counts of abusing eight boys aged 11 to 15 between 1968 and 1988. The Oxfordshire college closed in 1997.

He was sentenced in 2016, aged 78, after a jury found him guilty of indecent assault and indecency with a child, having heard how he lived in a flat above the boys’ dormitories and groomed his victims using chocolates, cigarettes and TV.

But the Court of Appeal has now reduced his sentence to nine years and upheld an appeal against six counts of serious offences against one witness.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it would not by applying for a retrial as the complainant did not wish to go through further proceedings.

Andrew Grove, a lawyer pursuing compensation for the victims, said: “The outcome of Mr Bolton’s criminal appeal should not affect the civil claims for compensation.”